CBscientific Personal Analytics THC and CBD Test Kit

CBscientific’s Personal Analytics Test Kits are handy little test kits, depending on the application. With one small kit allowing you to run three tests, $15 is a great price.

The readings they give are qualitative, not quantitative. They give you a more-or-less reading by comparing the color the solution turns with a color chart given; the darker the color, the higher the percentage.

The CBD test works excellently if you’re trying to breed a high CBD strain, or figure out which medicinal product is the best for you. The test seems only to be sensitive to CBD and will turn darker shades of purple at higher percentages of CBD.

The THC test kit is excellent at detecting the presence of cannabinoids in something that shouldn’t have them, like industrial hemp or Halloween candy. As far as using it to see which plant you’re growing has higher THC than another, the test works for large differences, but make sure there’s not too much CBD in the mix. A high percentage of CBD in your bud will throw the THC test off giving misleading readings. According to the folks at CBscientific, as long as CBD content stays lower than 5 %, THC readings will be true; the darker the red, the more THC.

The kits got tested out on a high CBD strain (C-4, pictured on the left) and a high THC strain (Hawaiian CPL, pictured right). C-4 has 0.75 % THC and 12.26 % CBD. Hawaiian CPL weighs in at a solid 19.09 % THC and 0 % CBD.

The CBD test went perfectly. The vial with C-4 in it turned dark purple, the one with Hawaiian CPL didn’t change at all.

The THC test was somewhat of a bust because it confused CBD for THC in the high CBD strain, C-4.

The vial on the top has Hawaiian CPL in it; the one on the bottom has C-4. It’s as if C-4 has more THC than Hawaiian CPL, which we know isn’t true. What’s happening is the dye in the kit thinks CBD is THC, and turns a darker shade of red than it should. Strains this high in CBD (12.26%) aren’t that common, so you shouldn’t run into this problem too much if you’re comparing two products for THC content.

If you want to play it safe, you can run a CBD test first, and then a THC test. If the CBD content is low, the THC test will work. If CBD is high, you might want to look for a different testing method.

For two samples of concentrates with unknown cannabinoid content (Conc. 1 and Conc. 2), the comparison turned out similar to what happened in the case of Hawaiian CPL and C-4. The CBD test for Conc. 1 turned a very dark purple, while Conc. 2’s CBD test turned a very, very slight shade of purple. The THC tests both turned red, but Conc. 1’s was a different shade, similar to the THC test for C-4. The high amount of CBD in Conc. 1 is likely throwing off the THC test. Therefore it’s impossible to make a conclusion about Conc. 1’s THC content, because it’s too rich in CBD. For Conc. 2 we can safely say that it is rich in THC, somewhere between 15 % and 20 %, with some small amount of CBD, likely less than 3 %.

The test was also run on the two strains with slightly differing amounts of THC and CBD, to see if the test could tell the difference. One bud was Gorilla Glue #4 with 18.43 % THC and 0.5 % CBD, the other was New York City Diesel with 15.91 % THC and 0.14 % CBD.

The tests were quite inconclusive; both vials turned the same shade of light red in the THC tests, and both CBD test vials didn’t turn any noticeable shade of purple. It’s no surprise; there’s only a slight difference between the two THC concentrations, translating to a difference in color too small to see with the naked eye. The amounts of CBD do differ by relatively a lot (113 %), but the small percentages of CBD don’t lead to a visible change in color for either sample.

CBS News in Denver got there first for putting the kit to test on edibles, regarding parents’ concern over spiked candy. Check it out:

The instructions in the kit say it works best for cannabis flowers, but the slight solubility of chlorophyll in the kit’s mystery solvent (highly flammable and sweet smelling) can compromise the detection of small color changes, meaning concentrates might actually work better for it. For example, the CBD test for Gorilla Glue #4 showed no change in color in the solvent, but the solvent was already slightly green from dissolved chlorophyll. The CBD test for Conc. 2 made the solution turn slightly purple, you might not have noticed this if the solution was already slightly green from chlorophyll.

All in all, this is a decent product with an affordable price. The CBD kit is excellent for comparing CBD content of two products. The THC test can get compromised if CBD content is too high, but this is generally in uncommon problem. As far as detecting the overall presence of cannabinoids, like for Halloween candy or industrial hemp, this test will certainly do the job.